The Walking Dead Season 9 May Only Feature Andrew Lincoln For Six Episodes

We’ve got more disheartening news for you Rick Grimes fans out there.

In light of Collider’s shock scoop that Andrew Lincoln is poised to depart The Walking Dead after season 9, we’re now learning that the actor’s swan song as Papa Grimes will be a truncated affair – so much so, that he’ll only feature for six episodes in total as AMC looks to reshuffle its flagship zombie drama. The same goes for Maggie, another series veteran, who will seemingly have fewer episodes in order to ease Lauren Cohan’s transition over to ABC spy thriller Whiskey Cavalier.

For Andrew Lincoln, his impending exit will allow Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) to take over at The Walking Dead‘s primary lead. Remember, this is a series still reeling from the loss of Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), so it’ll be interesting to gauge how audiences react to the news that The Walking Dead and Andrew Lincoln are going their separate ways now, too.

For instance, will the loss of Rick Grimes have an immediate impact on the show’s ratings? And can we expect a major send-off for Rick and Maggie? Or is AMC planning to kill two of their biggest characters as a means of cranking up the drama? So many questions, so few answers…

One thing we can tell you with absolute certainty is that Andrew Lincoln’s time at the forefront of The Walking Dead is coming to an end, what with only six episodes of Rick Grimes (and Maggie Rhee!) remaining. They’ll be missed, of course, though we’ll have to wait until the show returns this October before we have a better idea of how AMC plans to end what has been a pretty incredible era.